Do Make Say Think – Stubborn Persistent Illusions – Album Review

‘Do Make Say Think’ are back with their 7th album, their first since Other Truths in 2009. It represents quite an impressive return from a band that have not released an album in eight years. After the band’s last album, each of the members pursued other musical projects. They returned to play together in 2012 at Constellation Record’s 15th Anniversary show in Europe in the autumn of 2012. This prompted them to start working on new material and this album is the result.

It opens with War On Torpor. The track starts with keyboard and rattling guitar, before the drums kick in and it gradually builds into something quite manic, played at break neck speed throughout! Horripilation is the first epic of the album, coming in over ten minutes in duration. The track opens with slow guitar and drums, making a gentle opening for the listener to get their bearings. You wait for an explosion that never quite arrives, with the song being closer to jazz, with the players experimenting with different sounds and ideas. The first song that really explodes is Bound, with its soaring guitar and bass lines. And Boundless is aggressive from the start, with brash lines and rumbling drums. It ends with Return, Return Again which is a slower more meditative sound.

Instrumental music will always have a limited market and it is rare for anything to actually sound genuinely new in this genre, but this is a powerful statement from a band that know exactly what they are doing.

Track List:

1. War On Torpor
2. Horripilation
3. A Murder Of Thoughts
4. Bound
5. And Boundless
6. Her Eyes On The Horizon
7. As Far As The Eye Can See
8. Shlomo’s Son
9. Return, Return Again